The FBI issues public warnings about fake cryptocurrencies
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a public warning about fraudulent cryptocurrency apps, which have swindled US investors out of an estimated $ 42.7 million so far.
According to a council published on July 18 by the Securities and Intelligence Agency, cybercriminals have created apps that use the same logos and identifying information as legitimate crypto companies to defraud investors. The FBI noted that 244 people had already fallen victim to these fake apps.
A case saw cybercriminals persuade victims to download an app that used the same logo as an actual US financial institution, and encouraged them to insert cryptocurrencies into wallets allegedly related to their accounts.
When victims tried to withdraw from the app, they were asked to pay tax on their withdrawals. However, this was just another ploy to share more money from the victims, because even if they made the payments, the withdrawals would still be unavailable.
Around $ 3.7 million was swindled from 28 victims between December 2021 and May 2022, the FBI said.
Another similar operation saw cybercriminals operating under the company name “YiBit”, and defrauded at least four victims for around $ 5.5 million between October 2021 and May 2022, using a similar method of deception.
A third case involved criminals operating under the name “Supay” in November 2021. They defrauded two victims by encouraging them to put cryptocurrency in their wallet on the app, which would then be frozen unless more funds were deposited.
Fraud warnings have also circulated on crypto-Twitter.
A user said that a friend recently fell victim to a scam that started on the online messenger service Whatsapp, which encouraged the victim to download a fake crypto app and load money into the app’s wallet. A week later, the crypto app disappeared.
Do not be fooled. I recently had a friend who fell for one #What’s up scam where they got her to download a fake #krypto app, put in some money, and about a week later the app is gone and is NOWHERE to be found. Fortunately, she did not follow the “instructions” and added more.
– Sarvasatvananda (Aaron) (@crypto_or_die) July 17, 2022
Another user says they have been the victim of a fake Ledger Live crypto wallet app, allegedly called “Ledger Live Plus” in Microsoft’s app store. The user claims that the fake app has already stolen $ 20,000 from him.
Earlier this year, the cyber security firm ESET unveiled a “sophisticated scheme” that would distribute Trojan applications disguised as popular cryptocurrency wallets. These applications will then try to steal cryptocurrencies from their victims.
Related: More than $ 4.7 million stolen in Uniswap fake token phishing attacks
Last year, a fraudulent cryptocurrency app dressed as a mobile Trezor app on the Apple App Store caused a user to lose $ 600,000 in Bitcoin at the time.
A report by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in June 2022 found that as much as $ 1 billion in crypto has been lost to fraudsters since 2021, with almost half of all crypto-related scams coming from social media platforms.
The FBI has advised crypto investors to be wary of unwanted requests to download investment apps, confirm that an app (and the company) is legitimate, and treat apps with limited and / or corrupted functionality “with skepticism”.
